Cherry Aftertaste
by Ayake Rin
Summary: Request for a squel by Uchihablossom0626. Sasusaku post shippuden. Please R&R and Enjoy! Sequel to "It's a Cherry Blossom Birthday Sasuke Uchiha" Please Please Please Enjoy!


**Thank you so much Uchihablossom0626 for the idea and all your help while I was writing this!! Second try!! I hate the backspace button...**

**Sasuke: Ayake doe not own me... I mean NARUTO! She does not own Naruto! It is (c) to its respective owner(s). Now may I please be untied?**

**Ayake: Nope! ^^ You get to stay tied up in the corner! On with the story!!!**

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~o~Cherry Aftertaste~o~

Sasuke was back from his latest mission. His probation was over and now he was sent on any and all missions Tsunade needed, wanted, or allowed him to go on.

He dropped his shoes on the mat inside the front door of the house he shared with his girlfriend of a year and a half, closing the door behind him.

"Sasuke-kun!!" the petite girl had managed to tackled an elite Shinobi, feared in many countries, to the ground in once hug. What a blow to his ego.

"Sakura... get off my windpipe..." flustered, the pink haired Kunoichi scrambled off of her beau.

"Gomen nasai Sasuke-kun," a blush dusted across her pale cheeks, "I guess I don't know my own strength. But you're home early! I missed you! How is everyone? Did everything go okay? Is everyone else alright? Do I need to go to the hospital?"

The dark haired man smirked; he knew she would be excited and worried all at the same time. He pulled her arm out of the white coat she was rushing to get on before saying,"Easy escort mission, fine, yes, yes, and no."

It was her turn to smirk, of course he would answer so simply,"What about I missed you?"

"You know I did too."

"But you still need to say it."

"Fine," a defeated sigh, "I missed you too Sakura." And _crack_ goes the whip. She had him under her spell whether anyone knew it or not, it just took a few years to sink through his thick skull.

She jumped up and down happily, squeeling and clapping her hands together. In one swift motion all of those actions turned to a look of surprise when she was smoothly swept off her feet and into his strong arms. He carried her into the kitchen she had run from when he entered and sat her down in her seat across from him at their small, low table.

"So what are you going to feed me today?" He rested his chin on top of his laced fingers, smirking at the still slightly surprised young woman across from him.

"Of course tomatoes, stuffed, but still tomatoes!" She got up and skipped to the chopping board she had left when she had ran from the kitchen. 'Thank Kami nothing was on the stove,' he thought; she would have gotten so caught up in his early return that she wouldn't have thought to turn off the burner, and last time served them right, half of their kitchen had almost been burned down.

She watched silently smiling as he ate the tuna salad filled fruit he loved almost as much as he did her. Some people would call it an obsession, but tomatoes were delicious to him and he didn't feel like they should be wasted by being side dishes and toppings. Lately he had thought his favorite fruit might be changing though.

After finishing he stood up and motioned for her to follow him. She didn't need to know where they were gong; that was the thing with Sasuke, he might not be romantic in a traditional sort of way, but he would take her out on a random trail, and have planned out an entire date when it just seemed to be a normal walk outside. But he was also great at taking her out for a walk and not giving her a surprise, which was always her favorite thing to do, they would walk and be silent, letting whatever emotions that were floating in the air take over them. Just like the night Sasuke had broken down and let go, let everything go and just started _something _new.

They walked down a path, so framiliar but somehow alien at the same time. She learned to not try and guess where they were going and let whatever the end result was surprise her. She just let him lead her, neither touching, not holding hands, not speaking. Just, being, just being there in that moment with each other letting whatever mood the other people left in their wake, be it anger, sadness, happiness, or the dreaded one, love. They would never admit it after what he had done when he left, but they couldn't bring themselves to say those three words after he had broken her heart so badly. But on these walks, they forgot all that and waked, letting everything take over.

Sasuke was beside her, holding a bag of sweet candy out for her. She took the toffee from his hand, smiled her thanks, letting out an oddly too framiliar, breathey whisper of thanks slip between her lips. It all seemed very framiliar, like it had happened before, but she brushed the thought away and ate each piece of the candy, one at a time. She breathed in the framiliar scent of the cherry blossoms that gave her her name. She just let it all sink in as they walked side by side, reliving somthing she couldn't remember clearly. The pungent taste of the candy overtaking her tongue, the scent of them and the trees flooding her sense of smell, her ears entranced by the mixture of cicada hums, footsteps, and otherwise calming white noise; she ignored her senses of touch and sight, not wanting what actually was to impede on her dreams of what could be.

She heard the footsteps beside her stop, causing her to open her eys into the murky haze her senses had led her into. She looked up to see the bench. The one that had held one memory, that one, terrible memory. And she almost couldn't breathe, because on that acursed bench, sat the most beautiful ring she had every seen in a small, square, velvet box.

She tore her eyes away from the picturesque scene before her to look into the dark black eyes she had fallen so deeply into before.

"Close your mouth, you'll catch a fly," and with that being said he closed her mouth with a single finger under her chin, and kissed her. Not the same fierce type of kiss like when they first walked here, no, this was sweeter, softer, kinder. He pulled away to say the last words she ever thought she'd hear from his lips,"Haruno Sakura, will you marry me?"

"Yes"

He smirked, but softer, almost a smile, it reached his eyes in a way that wasn't really a smirk at all. "One more thing."

"Yes?"

"I love you." A small gasp and she couldn't help but cry tears of joy.

"H-he-hey! D-don't cry! I-I'm sorry! What's wrong?!" He might be the Uchiha prodigy but he still didn't understand why girls cried.

"N-nothing Sasuke-kun," she laughed, he was so stupid sometimes, setting all of this up, recreating the night he had given in to all the pain, and then let it go with her. She knew how hard it must have been for an emotionally challenged guy like him, but he had done it. He had not only asked for her forever, but he had said those words that she was too afraid would scare him away. She couldn't help but cry, she was too happy.

"You know, I think it's that lipgloss you wear all the time."

"What?"

"That cherry flavored lipgloss or whatever t is," he leaned in close to her face, "I think it's becoming my favorite flavor now. And the cherry aftertaste isn't so bad either." Yep, his favorite fruit was now, cherries.

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**There it is! Uchihablossom0626, this is for you!! I had so many ideas flying around in my head I just didn't know what to do with it all. I hope it makes sense and if anything isn't clear or needs to be cleaned up a bit, please tell me! Spelling won't be fixed because I don't feel like reposting just for that, maybe some other time. Please Reveiw!!! Flames welcome and I really hope I didn't let you down wit this Uchihablossom!! And this IS a sequel to my other Sasusaku fic from Sasuke's birthday. Hope you all enjoyed!!**

**P.S. This ended up more Sakura-centric than I planned it but I still hope you enjoyed!**


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